


My Personal Definition of History

by chocochurros



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-01-31 18:56:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12688221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chocochurros/pseuds/chocochurros
Summary: School assignment from the summer.





	My Personal Definition of History

My personal definition of history is a relatively simple one: “Everything that happened in the past.” The mix of complex, intertwining individual stories that, together, shape the world in which we currently reside, both literally and figuratively, including culture, monuments, politics, and our way of life. As will soon become apparent once you get to know me, I am what they call “a huge history nerd” - I find the story of our world as fascinating as I find it entertaining. Part of this interest, I believe, is intuitive - after all, who doesn’t like hearing crazy stories and imagine living through them? It’s really escapism at its finest, as history comes with the assurance that it’s nonfiction, and that someone really did live through it, which encourages the ever-empathetic imagination - but part of it has been instilled by past experiences. For example, my rather eclectic upbringing and my interest in the musical Hamilton have definitely encouraged my fascination and my general curious nature, but my experiences in school may have been the primary cause. For example, my teachers are always finding new, engaging ways to relate the captivating tale and tales of our country’s heritage, as well as that of many others. In fifth grade, we learned about the American Revolutionary War and manifest destiny; in sixth, American economics, Ancient Greece, and Ancient China; and last year, in seventh grade, we learned about Africa and the Middle Ages, which may have been the most magical time period. As a fantasy nerd and an escapist, I couldn’t help but imagine myself in the shoes of leech collectors and plague doctors, which was honestly fun; plus, we learned about where we got so many of our nonsense idioms. And official classes weren’t all - during PARCC testing last year, our tester told us stories of the War of the Roses and other tales of the European crown to entertain us, because the truth is just that much more unbelievable than fiction. I think that might have been when I realized how interesting history really is. The compelling thing about learning more is, the more we learn about both the way our country works, and how other countries used to and still do work, the more we feel a part of the whole system; our teachers encourage this mindset, with a message that once we’re old enough, we can both continue tradition and construct new growth by being artists or entrepreneurs or politicians (please no), or perhaps by educating the next generation, like they decided to. All of these are a great mix of tradition and new growth, continuing the story of the past (what I think of, collectively, as “history”) and perhaps repeating it, as the saying goes. 

History, as well as being a source of national pride and a seemingly endless well of ancient wisdom to draw upon, can also be quite entertaining. Some stories are just so insane, so mind-blowing, that you have to remind yourself: “You can’t make this stuff up.” I, for one, love to imagine myself in those time periods - taking part of these momentous events, with untouchably famous and iconic people. Unless we suddenly gain the ability to rip tears in the space-time continuum, we’ll never be a part of these events, so we might as well picture them as a fantasy world; a world that used to be where we stand today. It’s chilling to think of standing in the same places that, now, are blanketed with peaceful grass, rather than the rotting corpses and discarded, bloody weapons that they once were consigned to bear; standing in the footsteps of great warlords, now likewise consigned to eternal slumber where they were notoriously struck down. History means that you can go to Gettysburg, for example, and see where thousands and thousands of people left life behind. You can still almost hear their haunting, agonized cries for the end, from hundreds of years ago, which will forever be stuck in the same spot on our timeline. As the rest of us march forward, that tableau, as well as countless others, is memorialized eternally. That’s what else history is to me - a magical fantasy world where unbelievable, forever-remembered events took place for real people; the epic tales of millions and millions of unique perspectives of the same events. And the greatest thing is, the story’s not over! The story’s whatever they tell our kids, and their kids after that, and their kids after that, forever. Or for the foreseeable future, at least, since nothing is forever. For all we know, I’ll be part of history. I might do something - well, historic - that will be remembered for, if not forever, since nothing really is, then at least a few years, before it inevitably fades. It’s completely astonishing that an event can be eternalized, slightly differently, yet with mostly consistent primary details, in countless distinct memories. It’s just mind-blowing to me.

Getting back on track: What’s done with those distinct, experiential accounts? Historians decide. In my view, which is purely based on personal intuition, historians have two main jobs - One: unearthing and piecing together the story, and Two: preserving the story. The past is something that’s sacred and, for lack of a better word, frankly important. It’s important to know how we got where we are, to know the value of everything we have that we might be tempted to take for granted. It’s important to know what our ancestors fought for, and how and why. It’s important to know what was important to these people, because someday, we’ll be in that position where all that’s left of us is our stories; our little contributions to the collective history of whichever story is being told, be it of our family, our lineage, our time period, our country, the world, or in an emerging story that we’ll only have a posthumous role in. Thus, it’s important to find out the truth of what happened, important to preserve these stories, and important to analyze and remember. Infinite wisdom can be drawn from these fanciful stories; lessons that you know are true because real people made the classical mistakes we can learn from. History’s not just about the past, it’s about the future, too. We have the advantage of learning from others’ mistakes, and that isn’t something we should take for granted. We can use the preserved past to replicate past success and avoid past blunders. Preserving the “now” will one day be the job of future historians - they’ll be the ones asking, “what in the world were you thinking?” “Didn’t you see this coming?” If we paid attention to the warning signs of the present like historians analyze the warning signs leading to the historic events we all know from the past, we’d be a better nation. A better world. Historians learn from the past by piecing together the storylines of countless mistakes and countless successes, which is why they recognize the present signs, and try to warn us of them. On a side note, studying history also requires putting yourself into the shoes of innumerable soldiers, artists, and leaders, just like every reader and writer does, which also helps to develop empathy. Historians are escapists, too.

I, for one, am an escapist, and am very excited about learning more about the foundation of my country this year. Not only am I a huge fan of the musical Hamilton, as I mentioned before (and let me tell you, when history is literally your fandom, it makes it a heckuva lot more interesting), I also genuinely find history enthralling, and I want to learn anything and everything about the past that I can. Knowing that it was all real, hard work, and that the fact that we exist today was the collective dream for so many of these founders who we now idolize, is truly inspiring. It sends a few messages: this is the land of the free and the home of the brave, which is something we should never let go. It’s a land with a great past and a great future, which we should fight for, no matter what the current administration tries to do with it. These larger-than-life figures fought for it; why should we stop now? They had dreams of a nation of freedom and possibility, a mutual dream that actually became realized. We can realize dreams, too, even if they seem impossible, if we put enough hard work and personal sacrifices in. And it’s not something that has to be done alone - after all, it took thousands - no, millions of towering, incredibly gifted titans to erect this nation, which is an uplifting and almost comforting thought. At the very least, we can do our bests to honor their legacies. 

In the end, history is something that fascinates and enthralls us. Something that inspires us; a source of wisdom with which we can face the future, stronger and better than before. It’s a tale that brings pride into our hearts and makes them beat with renewed fervor, especially with the thought that we, too, might be a part of this great, interconnecting web that we call history. And really, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t that all we can hope for?


End file.
